Oscillating nail-making



APPLICATION FILED APR'. 9. 19H.

Patented May 13, 1,919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

Nu., wAsmNom/w. n c.

C. A. TAYLUR.

osclLLATlNG NM1 MAKING MAcHmE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 9, 19|?.

Patented May13,1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Invenor C'ca'le o?" rau. u. c.

C. A. TAYLOR.

OSCILLATING NAIL MAKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED Ann. 9. |911.

1,303,413. A l Patented May 13, 1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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CHARLES A. TAYLOR, OF WHITMAN, MASSACHUSETTS.

OSCIIJLAIING NAIL-MAKING MACHINE.

. Application filed April 9, 1917. Serial No. 160,638.

To all whom t may concern: i

Be it known that I, CHARLES A. TAYLOR, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Whitman, in the county of Plymouth and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Oscillating Nail-Making Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

My present invention is an improved nail making machine, employing oscillating dies, and the object of the invention is to improve and perfect machines of this type. My machine is particularly ladapted to the making, shaping and finishing of a plurality o-f nails, resulting in producing a complete and commercial nail without subsea quent trimming, screening, picking or the like. In my machine I mount the sets of dies in a removable manner upon pairs of oscillating heads and soarrange these dies and heads that they are inclined sufficiently to obtain the advantages of a gravity feed between successivepairs of dies. `Furthermore, I also provide novel means of actually and positively feeding or forcing in a feeding direction the nail blanks to the first pair of dies and between each successive pair when desired, which positive feeding devices are preferably so timed as to supply a sufiicient overfeeding to insure a complete and uniform operation of the machine and to each of the sets of multiple dies therein. In my arrangement lof oscillating heads and dies,

the action is essentially a forming, drawi ing and shaping of the metal by successive stages, thus toughening the Shanks .of the nails, to facilitate driving while leaving the points soft for clenching, and graduallyand` successively working the metal into final di` ameter or form. This is a great advantage over the usual prior methods of relying upon heavy pressure rolls to simply crush or com-` press the metal into shape.

As my machine isprovided ith readily removable dies, itis feasible to make or form any sort of shaped or sized nail, suchas the headless vheelnails used in boot and shoe manufacture, or the round headed shoe nail, as well as countersunk nails, tapered nails, or for'forming tapered or straight pins for other purposes, either round, square, or any uniform shape. An important feature of my machine, is the capacity of making. a

`large number of nails at once, and `yet conserving power. In the machine herein shown I have illustrated an oscillating and inclined apparatus capable of forming, shaping and making a set ofnineteen nails, passing all nineteen simultaneously through the four successive sets of dies in the machine, this number being the maximum loading for a shoe heel. While it is within the capacity of my machine to make any reasonable number of nails at once, the power required to thus draw and form a large number of nails simultaneously, is considerable, but I so arrange the operation of the successive pairs of dies in my machine that only two sets at a time are operating to draw and form the nail blanks going through the machine, while the alternate two pairs are moving free of-load or nail drawing operation. I accomplish this by actuating the dies at substantially twice the speed of the feeding devices. my machine with four sets or pairs of dies operating on a large number of heel nails at the same time, with substantially half the `power required to operate the machine with all the dies acting simultaneously on the blanks. Furthermore by the arrangement of aipositive feed forthe blanks to each pair of dies their action is even throughout the entire width and no undue or excessive load or strain is put on the mechanism.

Further features of the invention, novel combinations of parts` and details of con- 'struction will be further pointed out and claimed. i

l `Referring to the drawings illustrating a preferredembodiment of the invention,

Figure l illustrates a side View partly in cross section illustrating an angle suitable for the gravity feed.

Fig. 2 is a plan view; i `Fig. 3 is a detail showing the arrangement for the positive feeding devices, the

devices `being omitted in Figs. 1 and Q for `thesake of clearness;

Figs,` 4; and 5 are enlarged side and cross sectional viewsrespectively, the latter on a line 5-5 of Fig. 4, illustrating the device used for lifting the feeding members above the raceways in the rearward movement;

Figs. 6, 7, 8 and 9 show successive movements of a pairof dies, the nail blank, and

,the positive feeding members;

Fig. 10 is an enlarged view of a yielding connection between the feeding devices and their actuatingmeans, permitting a yielding thereof in case of obstructions;

Figs` 11, 12 and 13 are side and end views respectively of one type of die;

Figs. 14'and 15 bein-g corresponding side and end views of a different type of die.

Referringto the drawings, my machine, as therein shown, comprises a relatively heavy framework mounted von suitable supports 1 and 2 and* comprising side plates 3 and 4 strongly bolted together and secured to the supports'vl and 2 together with top frames 5 and 6 which may be a single solid cap, if desired, bolted to the frames 3 and 4 respectively by bolts 7, 7, and 8, 8. Each side frame 3 and 4 is bored (see Fig. 1) to receive in the lower portions suitable bearings for the shafts 9 formed as a part of the oscillating heads or die carriers 10. The upper portions ofthe side plates are slotted, as shown at 11, Fig. 1, each slot providing a guideway for sliding bearings 12 in which an' upper shaft 13 is journaled. 0n said shaft are keyed the oscillating heads or carriers 14 for the upper dies 16. The correl sponvding heads and 14 constitute a pair of o ppositely positioned die carriers in which dies, 15 and 16 respectively, are removably held, in any suitable manner, as by the usual dovetailed and gib arrangement, such beveled gib being shown at 17 and 18, Fig. 1. The die carriers 10 and 14 and the respective dies therein are of suitable width to receive a plurality of parallel nail forming grooves, being herein shown as havin 19 such nail forming grooves, one half of the nail forming groove being in each die of a pair. It will be understood that the lowermost dies 10, 10, are rigidly fixed in respective bearings while the upper heads are slidingly positioned and may be moved toward the lower headsby adjusting screws 20, 2.0, lock nuts 21 beingprovided thereon. Similar slides 12 and adjusting screws 20 areA arranged for each end .of the upper die carriers in the side frames 3 and 4.

The shafts 9 and 13 for the lower and upper die carriersrespectively are extended at one-side, preferably on the side 4, as herein illustrated, and are reduced in diameter to constitute hubs 23 for the lower heads and 24 onthe upper set, to which reduced hubs are attached segments 25 by keys 26, each segment having rack teeth 28 'in position' to engage corresponding teeth on a rackbar 30, preferably formed of two plates for economy and adjustment which is adapted'to slide in bearings` 31, 31 at the side of the machine. movement to the rack bar 30 produces an oscillating movement in each pair'of die car* riers 10 and 14 and the'dies carried thereby.

In order to produce such reciprocatory L action,fthe bar 30 is extended beyondfthe Consequently, reciprocatingv endmost bearing 31, as indicated at 32 and attached to the forked end of a pitman 33 by a pin 34, the outer end of the pitman 33 being slotted at 35 to receive the shank of a headed bolt 36 which is tapped into a gear wl1eel37. This arrangement with the slot 35 permits a dwell or lost motion at each of the sliding movements of the bar 30 and consequently the corresponding movements of the heads 10 and 14. The wheel 37 is carried on a shaft 38 suitably ournaled in bracket arms 39, 39, bolted to the ends of the side frames and in position for the wheel 37 to mesh with a driving gear 40 on a shaft 41 also journaled in suitable bearings in said brackets and carrying on its outer end fast and loose pulleys 42 and 43 respectively to receive a belt from any convenient source of power. The actuation of the oscillating heads will be clearly understood from the foregoing description and the annexed drawing, such actuation depending upon the speed, which I find can be fixed at a considerable range, i. e., from 100 to 25() per minute. I prefer to operate my machine so that the speed of the oscillating heads will be substantially twice the feed of nail blanks to the heads, so that a set of nail blanks when acted on by the first pair of dies, will be passed onwardly and fed to the second pair of dies and acted on by them, further drawing, shaping and forming the nails before the succeeding set of blanks is fed into the rst pair of dies. Thence onwardly the nail blanks would continue to be fed at one half the rate of speed of the oscillating heads so that each alternate pair only of the oscillating dies are act-ing upon the nails or nail blanks at the same time. Thus, for example, while the first and third pairs in the order of feed, are acting on the nails, drawing and shaping them, the second and fourth pairs are free of nail blanks and therefore are running idle or without load, and similarly when the second and fourth dies are actually engaged in the nail shaping work the first and third are ruiming idle. This permits me to Operate a relatively heavy machine and upon a large number, e., ninoteen or more, nail blanks simultaneously, with a great saving in power required, and also greatly facilitates the insuring a full feeding action of nail blanks to the dies. It is desirable that in a set of dies having a large number of transverse nail receiving grooves therein, that all the grooves be filled with the nails and the strain and load evenly distributed. By arranging the machine so that the line of feed will be substantially at an angle of 450, I secure the benefits and advantages of a gravity feed which will also be sure to clear the dies ,of the nail blanks, as well as to aid in feeding the blanks directly into a succeeding pair of dies, although I prefer to, provide automatic means which will positively insure a uniform feeding action. Such an inclined machine also conserves floor space, and can `be readily inspected during operation. y n

In 4arranging feeding devices in racew-ays, I propose te. utilize any of the well known sorting or loading types of nail handling devices and position the same adjacent my nail making machine, so that the nail blanks will be automatically sorted andfed through suitable gateways from the loading machine (not shown) onto and into the first raceway 50, which raceway has a plurality of grooves 51, here shown as nineteen in number, to feed nail blanks to the corresponding grooves in the dies 15 and 16. Between each set of dies and beyond the last dies also, is a raceway 52, 53 and 54 respectively, each raceway having the ends beveled or clearedas indicated at 56 to allow for the arc of swing of the respective -adjacent dies. These raceways may be grooved bars or sheets of metal se` cured to the sides 3 and 4 in any desired manner. The nails being transferred into the first raceway will be fed onwardly to the first set of dies and acted upon and released by said dies in their downward swing and fed onto the next set, and so on. In order to positively control the feed of these blanks, however, and to force the nail blanks` directly into engagement with the grooves in the dies, I have provided means, working in timed relation with the oscillation ofthe die carriers and adapted to engage each nail blank in each groove, a feeding and separating apparatus which will now be described. This apparatus comprises a plurality of groove engaging members 60, aset of same, equal in number to the raceway grooves and die grooves, c'. e., nineteen in machine shown, are arranged over each of the raceways 50, 52, 53 and 54 and given a reciprocatory movement. The forward feeding movement of these blank feeding members 60 is a downward motion until each member 60 is seated within the groove over which it is positioned, then engaging and feeding forwardly the nail blank until it is actually within the action of the dies. Thereupon the backward feeding of the devices 60 takes place during the forward movement of the dies, such retraction of the devices 60 serving also to move them upwardly above the raceway sufficiently to permit the succeeding nail blank to traverse the raceway underneath the same, as will be described. These feeding devices 60 are each mounted upon a rod 61 extending crosswise of the raceways. In Fig. 2 I have illustrated the rod 61 over the raceways 50 and 52, omitting the devices 60 for the sake cf clearness, the latter being shown in enlarged detailin Figs. 6, `7, 8 and 9. To impart the reciprocatory movement to the rod 60 I provide twolinks 63 and 64 and position them through guides at either side `of the dies as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. In order to give the reciprocating movement to these rods 63 and 64 in unison, I provide eccentrics 65 and 66 respectively around the shaft 38. It is important to provide a yielding feed in therod 63 between each one of the series or sets of feeding members 60 carried by a shaft 61 and to this end I utilize a yielding drive as shownin Fig. 3` and in` enlarged view in Fig. 10.` The latter com` prises an expansible spring operating to join, yieldingly, two portions of the fee ing rod 63, while permitting a yielding therein, should any feed member 60 strike an obstruction. This arrangement includes a stem 71 extending from one portion 72 (see Fig. 10) with a flanged head 73 against which one end of the spring 7 0 bears, the other end of said spring bearing against the foot 75 of the saddle portion 76 of the other member 77. As shown in Figs. 2 and 10, the line of feed being tothe right in said figures, there is no voccasion for the feeding bar 63 to break excepting in the forward movement, or to the right, whereupon, should the devices 60 carried by the rod 61 on the portion `2'7 be obstructed, the spring 70` will yield, permitting the forward portion 72 to continue with the movement of the eccentric 65, without injury. l

In order to provide the upward movement `of the feeders 60, during the first portion of `the retraction ofitheir movement, I arrange a bracket 80 (see Figs. 4 and 5) secured to the several raceways at either end of the rod 61, securingA said bracket adjacent the bars 6'3 and 64 and extending the rod 61 sufficiently to engage at each end in a slot 81 in a block 82, which block slides between a groove 83 in said bracket and a corresponding 105 groove 84 in the raceway. With said blocks 82 at either end of the rod 61 carrying the feeder 60, the lifting of the rods 61 as they traverse the` slot 81 during the backward movement of the device and a corresponding lowering during the forward action, produces the raising of the feeder60 as shown in Fig. `6 during retraction, and the lowering as shown in Fig. 7 during the first of the forward movement, To secure the sliding blocks 82m respective positionsat the rearward and forward limits 'of the feeding aci tion of the bars 63 and 64, in order to give this raising and lowering at the beginning of the retraction and forward movements, I provide said blocks with a V-shaped not-ch 85 and arrange a leaf spring 86 with a prong 87 in position to engage the notch 85 and hold the said block 82 at the rearward limit i caused by the eccentric. 65, and with the feed- GI'VSGO in raised position as shown in Fig. 6, will cause the -rlod 6l carrying the feeders to move downwardly until the feeders 60 each lare seated in their respective grooves of the adjacent raceway- Thereupon the continued forward feeding action cf the eccentric 6.5will-pull the sliding block 82 from the spring 8 6 and move the Asaine forwardly until the prong of the spring 88engages the notchl 85I in the sliding block 82. Thereupon, during the first action of the retractive movement caused by the eccentric 65, the rod 61 will moveupwardly in said slot 81, raising-the feeders 60 and then moving the block 82 backwardly into full retracted position, detaching the spring 88 therefrom.

Y It will be appreciated that my machine may utilize any sort, kind or shapeof nail forming dies. 1n Fig. 11 I have shown a special type of die 90l having a groove 9'1 therein, 92 and 93 being end views showing respectively square and round nail forming grooves. In Figs. 14 `and 15 I have shown a die 95 with a nail forming groove 96 therein having a tapering form, These are simply shown for illustrative'purposes only, and a wide variety of grooved dies may be used.

The operation of my apparatus will, it is believed, be clearly understood. In the drawings, Figs.- 6, 7, 8 and `9 .illustrate the proi gressive movement of a nail blank 100 as it is fed under the feeders 60 while the latter are in raised position and then positively pushed forwardly into the engagement of the dies 15 and 16 by the feeders 60, being acted upon by the oscillating dies, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9 and in the latter freed from said dies and fed vcnwardly to the next succeeding dies or out of the machine in the case of the last pair. A substantial progressive working -or drawing and shaping, forming, toughening, hardening action is thus secured with the result that the last pair of dies may be absolutely perfect in form giving contour, producing a completely finished nail or set of nails. The product of my machine not only makes the nails, but also actually iinishes them, so that the prior operations of sorting, trimming, screening, etc., are entirely unnecessary, this machine producing a completely finished and substantially perfect nail. iThe dwell or lost motion at each end of the stroke of the rack bar 30 caused by the slot 35,"the pitman 33, gives the heads and consequently the dies, a period of rest,

and thereby receive and discharge much better. To hold the dies land carriers during this period of rest, I may provide springs like 86 and 88 in Fig. 4, adjacent a portion of the rack bar 30, which will hold the heads until the lost motion provided by the slot 35 is taken up and the rack forced out of engagement of said springs and the oscillation 0f the heads Continued. I. may also provide a set of clearers on each raceway between the successive sets of dies and at the end `of the last pair,to clear the nail blanks from each die. Such a clearer consists in a plate 101 extending across the raceway (Fig. 2) and preferably with the forward edge beveled as shown at 102, Figs. 8; and 9, permitting the upper die 16 to swing thereover and preventing the nail blank 100 sticking to the upper die and thus insuring its being fed onwardly through the appropriate groove in the raceway.

My invention is further described and defined in the form of claims as follows:

1. A nail making machine of the kind described, comprising a plurality of sets of oscillating dies, carriers for said dies and means to operate them, said dies and carriers being arranged at an angle to secure a gravity feed for nail blanks from one set of dies to the successive set and out of the machine.

2. A nail making machine of the kind described, comprising a plurality of sets of oscillating dies, carriers for said dies and means to operate them, said dies and carriers being arranged at an angle to secure a gravity feed for nail blanks from one set of dies to the successive set and out of the machine, in combination with automatic nail-blank feeding devices.

3, A nail making machine of the kind described, comprising a plurality of sets of oscillating dies, each die having a plurality of nail forming grooves, carriers for said dies and means to operate them, said dies and carriers being arranged at an angle to secure a gravity feed for nail blanks from one set of dies to the successive set and out of the machine.

4. A nail making machine of the kind described, comprising a plurality of sets of oscillating dies, carriers for said dies and means to operate them, said dies and carriers being arranged at an angle to secure a gravity feed for nail blanks from one set of dies to the successive set and out of the machine, in combination with automatic nail-blank feeding devices, together with grooved raceways between each of the successive dies and means to clear nail blanks from one die.

5. An oscillating nail making machine of the kind described, comprising successive sets of nail engaging dies arranged in a line to secure a gravity feed of nail blanks, means to oscillate said dies, feeders to feed a nail blank to each die, acting in timed relation to the oscillation of said dies, and means permitting a relative rest between the oscillation of said dies and the movement of the feeders.

6. In a machine of the class described, a plurality of oscillating dies, carriers therefor, said dies and carriers being arranged at an inclination so as to provide a gravity feed on a blank as it is fed to the dies through the machine, gear segments on each die carrier and a rack to operate the gear segments of each pair of dies in unison, t0- gether with means to operate said rack in predetermined timed relation with a rest at the end of each oscillatory movement.

7. In a nail making machine of the kind described, a plurality of pairs of dies positioned to operate successively on nail blanks,

feeders to move said nail blanks into die-engaging position in timed relation with the movement of said dies, and means actuating said feeders permitting a yielding action in case of obstruction to any one feeder.

8. In a nail making machine of the kind described, a `plurality of pairs of dies positioned tooperate successively on nail blanks, feeders to move said nail blanks into die-engaging position in timed relation with the movement of` said dies, said feeders consisting in a plurality of independent members each adapted to engage a nail blank in a raceway transversely of said dies and common means to actuate all said feeders in unison.

9. In a nail making machine of the kind described, a plurality of pairs of dies positioned to operate successively on nail blanks, feeders to move said nail blanks into dieengaging position in timed relation with the movement of said dies, said feeders being Copies of this patent may be obtained for yieldingly actuated by means providing for the lifting ofthe feeders from nail engaging position at the beginning of the rearward stroke, and means insuring a downward movement of said feeders at the beginning of the feeding stroke.

l0. In a nailmaking machine of the kind described, a plurality ofpairs of dies positioned to operate successively on nail blanks, feeders to move said nail blanks into dieengaging position in timed relation with the movement of said dies, said feeders comprising a plurality of independent nailblank engaging members pivoted to a carrier, a slide at each end of said carrier, and a slotted guideway in said slide with yielding means to hold said guideway temporarily at the beginning of the retracting and feeding movements, whereby all said feeders on a carrier will be respectively raised from a raceway during the first of the retracting action and lowered onto said raceway during the first part of the feeding action.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

cHAs. A. TAYLOR.

iive cents each, by addressing the Gommiissioner of Patents, Washington, ID. C. 

